


The Blasted Tower

by Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw



Series: February Ficlet Challenge 2021 [13]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Advice, College, Gen, Tarot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:15:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29419989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw/pseuds/Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw
Summary: The Doctor is required to give Bill career advice. Naturally, this takes an unconventional form.Pairing: Twelfth Doctor & Bill PottsPrompt: Collapse
Relationships: Twelfth Doctor & Bill Potts
Series: February Ficlet Challenge 2021 [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2141604
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13
Collections: February Ficlet Challenge 2021: Apocalypse No





	The Blasted Tower

“Thanks again for getting me enrolled here,” Bill began. She wasn’t sure what sort of career advice the Doctor was going to give her, but according to the dean, all new students had to meet with their faculty mentor to discuss career prospects. The Doctor had complained, but Nardole had put it on the calendar and that had been that. On the other hand, Bill mused, the Doctor had lived a dozen lives, so he probably had some life experience to share. “Are you...busy?” she asked as she sat down opposite his desk. Mind you, he appeared to be mucking about with a deck of cards, but there was nearly always more going on with the Doctor than met the eye, and she could already tell at a glance that this wasn’t a standard 52 card deck. Tarot, maybe? Who would have guessed?

“Yes; busy giving you career advice.” His fingers continued to work. “And it was no trouble.” Bill didn’t doubt him - she just wondered what kind of pull he had to have to make that work. “Bill, remind me, have you declared a major yet?” Before she could answer that she hadn’t, he continued. “Doesn’t matter; you’ll never use half of it anyway. This isn’t that kind of career advice, anyway.”

“Somehow I wasn’t expecting a Buzzfeed-style ‘25 hot jobs for people under 25’ list,” Bill snarked gently. Nardole was probably Googling that sort of thing anyway in an effort to give her something concrete.

“What the hell is a Buzzfeed?” The Doctor muttered, and began arranging the cards. “So: you are here, and you want to end up here.” He placed his hand on his desk and moved it up to a point about three feet above. “It can help if you start out rich, but I tend to find that most people who do confuse being rich with being successful, and stop there.” He chucked the Ten of Pentacles over his shoulder. “But this isn’t advice for just anyone: this is advice for wonderful Bill Potts. And she’s got a perfectly good place to start. You notice things other people don’t, you’re clever and confident, and you never lose hope.” As he said this, he completed the bottom row of the structure with the Queen of Swords and the Star.

“Hang on, are you telling my future?” Bill had had a tarot done once on a lark. The reading had been total rubbish - the cards told her she would find love with a mysterious man from her past. Apparently the tarot reader’s third eye didn’t notice the lesbian pride choker she’d been wearing.

“Proving my point precisely. Although I tend not to believe in fate, or luck.” The Doctor chucked the Wheel of Fortune over his other shoulder. “Luckily for you,” he continued, making Bill snort under her breath, “you’ve asked for advice from very wise people. By which I mean the TARDIS and occasionally Nardole,” he continued, placing the Magician and the High Priestess face to face on the next level.

“Yeah, sure, okay.” Keep telling yourself that, Bill thought as she forced a smile from her lips. “Sounds pretty easy so far.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Living is the most difficult thing you humans do. Only known activity with a one-hundred-percent mortality rate. However,” here, he added the Five of Wands to the tower, “for good or ill, those struggles are part of your journey.”

“Nearly there,” Bill whispered, and no sooner had she spoken than one of the cards slid out on the smooth wood of the Doctor’s desk, collapsing the entire tower. “Aw, bugger, I jinxed you.”

“I already told you, I don’t believe in luck.” He put down the Ten of Cups from where he’d been about to place it. “Besides, you don’t want the story I’ve built for you; you want your own.” And as he said this, Bill looked down at where her hand had come to rest upon the Fool. 

“Huh.” She considered his words and the artwork of the scattered cards, often coming back to the figure beneath her fingers, stepping blithely into the unknown. “Thanks, Doctor. And, uh, if you don’t mind, I wouldn’t mind talking about my courses for next semester?...” 

His grin broadened as he cleared the deck from his desk and she spread the course list out for them to study.

**Author's Note:**

> I am by no means a professional or trained tarot reader, but these are the cards and meanings used:  
> The Blasted Tower - unforeseen catastrophe  
> Ten of Pentacles - material wealth  
> Star - hope, promise  
> Queen of Swords - perceptive, confident  
> Wheel of Fortune - luck  
> Magician & High Priestess - wisdom  
> Five of Wands - struggle  
> Ten of Cups - lasting success  
> The Fool - starting a journey


End file.
